YAKIMA QUEENSLAND SUNSHINE SERIES 2013 - WRAP UP

The Yakima Qld Sunshine Series Downhill wrapped up last Sunday, 11 August 2013 with the postponed round 2 being run at Cedar Creek located in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. This race was preceded by round 5 on Sunday, 31 July 2013 at the same venue. On both occasions, fellow NSDynamics/BM Racing Team member Mat Dodd and I went up for the weekends so we could get some practice runs in on the Saturday before racing on Sunday. The first race (round 5) was disappointing for me to a large extent because I just could not get my flow on all weekend and for whatever reason, managed to crash in most practice runs and my Qualifying run. I held it together for my race run but still managed to stuff it up and finished in 4th place but well off the pace! Mat put together a good race run and came home in 3rd place which was a great effort considering he had been really sick and confined to bed for the week beforehand! The second and final race (postponed round 2) was run on a different track at the same venue and was dry, loose and dusty. We practised well on Saturday and I got my flow back on and was looking forward to racing the next day. We hit the track early on Sunday and after a couple of practice runs I noticed my Santa Cruz v10 was acting weird in the rear end and on inspection I found that I had sheared the bottom pivot bolt! I had no choice but to head up for my Qualifying run with the knowledge that it was broken and that played mind games with me during the race but I just put down my best effort and managed to qualify in first place. I borrowed a pivot bolt from another rider before my race run (thanks mate!) and headed up the hill. I had a reasonably clean race run and came home in 2nd place with less than a second from the eventual winner. Mat finished in 3rd place so we had good representation on the Podium for both races. We only raced 3 of the 5 races in the Series and I managed to finish in 5th spot overall which was a reasonable effort under the circumstances. Now we are back into training mode to get prepared for the Qld State DH Championships to be held at Mt Joyce on 24-25 August 2013. Massive thanks to my Supporters, BM Racing - NSDynamics - Santa Cruz Bikes - CTN Imports (Elka Suspension)and KWT-Maxxis.